Data management giant Informatica is to be acquired by Salesforce in a deal valued at US$8 billion, giving the CRM behemoth a cloud-based data business on which to further build its artificial intelligence ambitions.
The California-based companies entered into an agreement for the deal, which will see Salesforce buy all the Informatica stock it doesn’t already own and is expected to be completed by 2027. Salesforce said Informatica’s capabilities would be critical for deploying “powerful and responsible agentic AI”.The planned deal is seen as a natural development within the data industry. Mike Capone, chief executive of data integration and analytics provider Qlik – which acquired data management company Talend in 2023 – said that in terms of Salesforce’s AI growth, the purchase made sense.
“It… reinforces something we’ve been saying since 2023; trusted data is the foundation of meaningful, scalable AI,” Capone said in a LinkedIn post. “If you’re placing big bets on AI, it’s worth considering not just what the tools can do, but how they fit into your broader strategy – and how much freedom you’ll have to evolve.”
Nevertheless, Salesforce’s bet on AI comes amid signals that the rush for the technology may be waning. Microsoft and Google recently announced cuts to their AI spending plans and chipmaker Nvidia’s chief executive Jensen Huang warned that the size of AI-focussed deals is shrinking. In an interview with Data Management Insight, GoldenSource Head of Buy Side Solutions Jeremy Katzeff said that asset managers were clawing back their initial enthusiasm for the technology.
‘Pulling Everything Together’
Formed in 1993 and listed on the Nasdaq in New York in 1999, Informatica provides data management services to customers including Citizens Bank and KPMG. Chief executive Amit Walia dubbed his company the “Switzerland of data” for its ability to work behind the scenes at large companies “pulling everything together”. The company has also sponsored a number of A-Team Group webinars and won awards nominations.
The sale had been rumoured for months and is one of the biggest struck by salesforce, according to Bloomberg News analysts, who said the acquisition could be a strategic coup given deepening competition within the AI database market. They also warned that overlap between the two companies’ operations could be the focus of regulatory scrutiny.
Salesforce said the planned acquisition would give it new strengths in data transparency through Informatica’s integration, catalog, and lineage tools; better data understanding as a result of combinations of Informatica’s metadata and Salesforce’s unified data model; and, robust data governance thanks to built-in master data management and data quality capabilities.
“Together, Salesforce and Informatica will create the most complete, agent-ready data platform in the industry,” said Marc Benioff, Chair and Chief Executive of Salesforce. He added that “we will enable autonomous agents to deliver smarter, safer, and more scalable outcomes for every company, and significantly strengthen our position in the $150 billion-plus enterprise data market.”
Walia echoed that sentiment.
“Today marks a powerful day in the next chapter for Informatica,” he said in a LinkedIn post. “We are committed to continuing our strategy of building best-in-class, AI-powered data management products – delivering a complete, end-to-end platform with industry-leading, integrated solutions to connect, manage and unify data across any cloud, hybrid or multi-cloud environment. ”
Once the deal is complete, Salesforce said it will integrate Informatica’s technology stack, including data integration, quality, governance, and unified metadata for Agentforce, and a single data pipeline with MDM on Data Cloud into its own system.
It said it will also back Informatica’s creation of AI-powered data management products.
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